Nomination Draws Fire St. Cloud Angry At Selection Of Herring To Tourist Council

November 26, 1985|By Jean Claude de la France of The Sentinel Staff

KISSIMMEE — St. Cloud Council member Ernie Gearhart is threatening to boycott Tourist Development Council meetings because the county commission has appointed political gadfly Richard Herring to the advisory board.

Herring, owner of Good Impressions Inc., will at

tend his first TDC meeting Jan. 8.

Gearhart expressed his displeasure last week during a telephone conversation with Kissimmee/St. Cloud Convention and Visitor's Bureau director Gary Powell, who relayed them to Commissioner Mike Bast.

Bast, who was TDC chairman until two weeks ago, nominated Herring for the volunteer post. County Commissioner Bill Beck is the new chairman.

Both Powell and Gearhart declined to comment Monday.

Bast said he nominated Herring ''because I felt he would make a good TDC member and nothing has happened to cause me to change my mind. Just because some people do not like him doesn't mean we made a bad choice.'

Herring was approved 4 to 0, along with St. Cloud travel agent Judy Moore, for a four-year term. Under state law, once approved, they only can be removed from office for misconduct.

Herring said he has no plan to resign.

In a letter mailed to Gearhart Saturday, he told the council member: ''I have been informed of your dissatisfaction with my appointment to the TDC . . . and . . . I hope you will not resign in haste but will join me in making this council work.''

Herring, who said he has never spoken to Gearheart, has been feuding with St. Cloud over a number of issues.

A week ago, he filed a complaint with the state attorney's office, accusing the city of hampering public participation in its council meetings. The city sets time aside for public comment at the beginning of each meeting, but does not allow the public to take part in subsequent debate on agenda items.

Earlier, Herring urged Kissimmee to sue after St. Cloud doubled its landfill dumping fees from $8 to $16, but no action was taken.

Bast acknowledged that ''Richard can get on your nerves sometimes.'' But he said he did not expect Herring's nomination to irritate St. Cloud, adding ''I'm not sure it would have made any difference.''

Herring, 42, a former member of Kissimmee's Planning Advisory Board and chairman of the Lakefront Advisory Board, is a well-known activist. He lost two election bids to the Kissimmee city commission -- in 1977 and 1979. He has said he will not seek an elected post again, but says he spends about 15 hours a week researching public records.